ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I
Introductory

     SECTION

1.        Short title

2.        Interpretation

3.        Appointment of Registrar and District Registrars

4.        Registers and registration

PART II
Compulsory Registration of Births and Deaths

5.        Application of Part III

6.        Duty to notify birth of child

7.        Duty to notify deaths

8.        General duties of District Registrars

PART III
General Provisions relating to Registration

9.        Duty of District Registrar on receipt of notice of birth, still-birth or death

10.        Birth and death certificates

11.        Late registration of births, still-births and deaths

12.        Registrar may, on application thereto, alter surnames in births registers

13.        Registrar may, on application thereto, alter forenames in births registers

14.        Restrictions as to alteration of births, still-births and deaths registered

15.        Correction of errors in registers

16.        Authorization of High Court to register births, still-births and deaths

17.        Rules for applications under section 15 or 16

18.        High Court not to be bound by rules of evidence or procedure

19.        Registration of person as father of illegitimate child

20.        Amendment of birth registration after legitimation of child born out of wedlock

21.        Certificate by medical practitioner as to cause of death

22.        Determination of cause of unnatural death

23.        Affidavits, etc. to be exempt from stamp duties

PART IV
Supplementary

24.        Penalties

25.        Regulations

Act 48, 1968,
S.I. 19, 1974,
S.I. 61, 1974,
S.I. 95, 1974,
S.I. 22, 1977,
Act 3, 1978,
Act 7, 1983,
S.I. 17, 1992,
Act 16, 1998.

An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to the registration of births and deaths.

[Date of Commencement: 1st April, 1969]

1.       Short title

            This Act may be cited as the Births and Deaths Registration Act.

2.       Interpretation

            In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-

            "authorised person" means, in relation to births or still-births, a Chief or administrative officer, and in relation to deaths, an administrator of the deceased's estate;

            "birth" means the issuing forth from the mother at any time of a child who, at any time after being wholly expelled from the mother, breathes or shows any other sign of life, or the issuing forth from the mother of a child, whether dead or alive, after the expiration of the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy;

            "married" means lawfully married, whether or not such marriage was celebrated within or outside Botswana, and includes marriage under any system of customary law where the marriage is recognized as being a valid customary marriage under the law of Botswana;

            "next of kin" means a spouse, parent, or child of a person in respect of whom a certificate is issued under the provisions of this Act.

            "register" means the Births Register or the Deaths Register, as the case may be, maintained by the Registrar in accordance with section 4 or any register of births or deaths, as the case may be, in the custody of the Registrar which was kept under any law in force at any time before this Act came into operation by which provision was made for the registration of births and deaths;

            "Registrar" means the Registrar of Births and Deaths appointed under section 3;

            "still-born" and "still-birth" shall apply to any child who has issued forth from the mother after the expiration of the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy and did not, at any time after being wholly expelled from the mother, breath or show any other sign of life.

3.       Appointment of Registrar and District Registrars

            (1) The Minister may, by notice published in the Gazette appoint, for the purposes of this Act, any officer in the public service as Registrar of Births and Deaths who shall be custodian of all notices of births and deaths and of all returns, registers and records of any birth or death in Botswana.

            (2) The Minister may appoint-

     (a)     such number of District Registrars as the Minister may deem necessary to exercise, subject to the directions of the Registrar, such of the functions of the Registrar, as the Registrar may direct from time to time; and

     (b)     such number of Registration Officers as the Minister may deem necessary who shall discharge such of the functions of the Registrar under this Act, as the Registrar may, from time to time direct.

4.       Registers and registration

            (1) The Registrar shall maintain three registers, to be called the "Births Register", the "Still-Births Register" and the "Deaths Register" respectively, into which shall be entered prescribed details of births, still-births and deaths.

            (2) Any such entry shall constitute the registration of the birth or death, as the case may be, to which the entry relates and upon such entry the information form relating to such birth, still-birth or death and any related documents supplied to the Registrar in terms of this Act shall be deemed to form part of that register.

            (3) In the case of a birth, still-birth or death the details of which are entered in a register of births, still-births or deaths in the custody of the Registrar which was kept under any law in force at any time before this Act came into operation by which provision was made for the registration of births, still-births or deaths, any information form and any other document in the custody of the Registrar, submitted under that law, shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to form part of that register.